Only 32% of current ACMA blacklist is child abuse material

In response to Senate questions, ACMA admitted this evening that their current blacklist contains only 32% child abuse material. During a Senate Standing Legislation Committee for Environment, Communications & the Arts, they revealed that the list contains 51% refused classification material (which includes child abuse material), meaning the other 49% is rated X18+ or less.

Given these numbers, 68% of the current list is almost definitely legal content.

The amount of child abuse related content is down from previous numbers and ACMA notes that turnaround on sites containing child abuse material is around 2 months, so the amount included on the list does fluctuate.

ACMA also stated that online content complaints have increased by 90%. Between July 2008 and April 2009, the media authority received 1002 complaints, where as in 2006 to 2007 they received 602 legitimate complaints. According to ACMA, the only groups which made multiple complaints were law enforcement agencies and child protection groups.

Senator Conroy stated that the Government is also considering the possibility of greater transparency, but it cannot publish the list. He said this could include regular panel reviews or a review of all URLs by the Australian Classification Board.